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How to Prevent Further Suicides, pt. 4: Finding the Meaning and Purpose of Life

01/17/2012

Many, if not most, suicides occur as a result of the person seeing no real reason to live. They lose the drive to live because they do not see any reason to continue living. That is why, when considering the subject of “How to prevent suicide,” it is important to consider not just man’s origins, but also his meaning and purpose.

Again, this is where the Bible is so informative. The Bible emphasizes that each moment of life has a grand purpose, superseding any earthly or temporal connection. Life was given in the beginning by God for the purpose of serving God. We were fashioned for Him and for His pleasure.

So, no matter what may occur on earth—be it the loss of a loved one, a loss of a job, or some other ill turn of events—one ought to see that his life is not tied up in these fleeting and fickle things. His life is to be found in the Creator. Man was designed to live eternally and in harmonious communion with the Almighty.

This lively and eternal prospective radically differs from the prevailing philosophy of the day. Most people in America are taught and embrace (be it consciously or not) the evolutionary and materialistic[1] perspective that has been handed down from Darwin. According to this worldview a person’s life has but one end: the grave.

It is easy to see why this angle worldview enhances the possibility of suicidal tendencies, particularly when one is afflicted with the dark and gloomy thoughts that accompany a depressed spirit. One can, in that cheerless moment, easily come to believe that it is better to end one’s life sooner than later.

The most optimistic in this camp will say that life should be lived for the benefit of others or that life’s meaning is what you make of it. Yet even there one must confess that, despite great feats or pleasures, it is only a matter of time before the death bell tolls. One may still wonder if there is any use in delaying the inevitable.

Certainly the “Let’s make the best of it” philosophy is quite dire. It only serves to highlight the real means of preventing further suicides. Young people need to hear that life does have eternal and meaningful purpose. They need to understand that God has designed them to forever enjoy the bliss of His majesty and benevolence. They need to know that they are a part of a grand story and that God has given them a particular role in that story. They need to understand that they were designed to serve Him and commune with Him all the days of their lives.

When such principles are grasped, one may see that each day is worth living. No matter how dark the day may seem or how useless one may appear in the eyes of men, he or she has a relation to the divine and is called to fulfill their divinely appointed purpose in that day.

[The above article is the fourth in a series on How to Prevent Further Suicides.]

[1] Materialism is the belief that matter is the only thing that exists. It holds that there are no immaterial things such as a person’s soul, spiritual beings, etc.

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On Preventing Further Suicides, pt. 3: Dignity, Self-worth, and the Image of God, cont.

01/12/2012

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In the last article I argued that preventing further suicides necessitates a vigorous promotion of the Christian view of man. God created man in His image and, as a result, man has inherent dignity and personal worth. This, in turn, boosts an individual’s self perception and lowers one’s possibility of taking his life.

Unfortunately this notion, which can help to boost any depressed soul, is not advocated in our day. The contemporary philosophy that receives acclaim is the evolutionary view of man, a view which robs man of his glory and personal nobility.

The Darwinian worldview advocates that man is essentially a cosmic accident. He is a descendent of a germ that materialized by molecules randomly bumping into each other. To put it another way, man is nothing more than a product of random happenchance, having no real distinction from the grass that we mow down with our lawn mowers.

While there might be a few strands of DNA that separate us from grass, Darwinism cannot deny that there is no essential dignity that distinguishes us. According to their own reasoning, a few molecules came together in just the right way. Some of those molecules became grass; some of them became you.

With such a worldview it is easy to see why one can come to believe that taking one’s life is ok. Man is nothing more than a blade of grass that can be mown down at will.

As a matter of fact, the existentialist philosopher Albert Camus has even given excellent insight into just how dreadful his own materialistic worldview really is. Camus said, “The greatest question that mankind faces is not if one should take his life, but when.”

The good news is that not everyone who holds the materialistic/evolutionary construct sees the logical consequences of their line of reasoning. For this we can be quite glad. The bad news is that some, like Camus, do see the implications of their beliefs.

Without dignity and inherent worth nobody has any reason to continue living one minute. This is why it is detrimental to society for our schools, television stations, public officials, museums, etc. to promote the materialistic, evolutionary worldview. In promoting this perspective they become accomplices to the acts of suicide.

If we wish to bring the number of suicides down, it is imperative that the evolutionary worldview be repudiated wherever possible. The Christian view of man be embraced, and our young people ought to be given the foundational principles that coalesce with prolonging life.

[This is a series on preventing further suicides. To view the other articles in the series click here.]

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Damned if You Do; Damned if You Don't: Review of Saki's Storyteller

11/29/2011

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H. H. Munro (Saki), courtesy of Wikipedia

We finished up my creative writing class by focusing on short stories. Yesterday we read and analyzed Saki's short story entitled The Storyteller. I found it so intriguing, that I thought I'd post my thoughts and analysis.

Summary
The Storyteller is about some rambunctious children riding in a carriage with their aunt and a greatly annoyed bachelor. The aunt attempts to charm the children (and relieve the bachelor's annoyance) by telling the children a story about a good little girl who is rescued from a mad bull because of her goodness. The children despise the story. The bachelor then tells a story about a good little girl (so good she's "horribly good") that gets devoured by wolf. The children love it while the aunt is aghast. (read the whole story here)

Analysis
Saki’s Storyteller ought to make you feel a bit uncomfortable. He is in a very real way making fun of your average, everyday children’s story. Your standard children’s story usually teaches a moral that is supposed to persuade you to be a good little boy or girl. But Saki, in essence, says such stories are dumb. His point is that, in the end, good kids die—sometimes even violently. That would be the first theme. The second (and perhaps main) theme is that there’s no such thing as a “good little boy or girl.” Kids are evil and like stories that have violence and evil in them. The stranger walks away at the end quite satisfied because he knows the kids will be pestering their aunt for an "improper" story for a long time to come.

In sum, Saki says, all are damned.

The story is rather depressing because it looks at man’s real nature as a sinner and the consequences of trying to live a good, moral life: “You are evil and even the best of us still die.” What's more is that its grim tone is intensified because it offers no salvation.

This is where the gospel brings good news. Man, in and of himself can do nothing to change his nature or escape death. Yet Christ died to take the curse of death away and he now sends the Holy Spirit into the hearts of those who turn to him in faith and repentance to change their wicked nature.

Saki's story is wonderful in that it gets at the real essence of the unbelieving life, and does not leave any fairy tail wish-fullness bouncing around in our heads. Unfortunately, due to his worldview, Saki's story depresses. It is sure to entertain, but without the understanding of Biblical salvation, you are left glorying in the grave and the evil that leads to it.

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